Secrets

I've got a secret.

And so do you.

We all do. Everyone. Even my dogs have secrets. (They just don't hide them very well. Look under the couch. And you can tell if it's a really secret secret, because one of them appears sheepish and slinks about apologetically.)

I heard about a really good secret the other day. One of those friend of a friend of a friend secrets--it may even be an urban legend. Anyhow, I mentioned something to a friend of mine about charging a $65 vet's fee and "Heheheheh--don't tell my husband." She told me about a vet friend of hers who met a client in a restaurant. The client rushed up, pointed to a man at the bar (who was watching a game on the television and not paying any attention to his wife) and said, "Hi Dr. Soandso--that's my husband! He doesn't know I have a horse, so--don't say anything!"

Wow. Now that's a big secret. How can you hide a horse? I have enough trouble hiding my horse's bills from my husband--I can't imagine hiding the whole horse. But this woman--the client--had been with the vet for years with her horse.

She must have been the Queen of Espionage.

Where did she hide her stinky barn boots? How did she excuse her long, daily absences, times when she went to muck and ride? What did she do with all her ribbons and trophies (assuming she showed with her horse)? Good grief--this woman had a whole other life. And her husband knew nothing. (She'd probably be really good at having an affair. Hmm. Imagine if he thought she was having an affair and hired a P.I.? All he'd get is photos of her forking up pooh, hauling waterbuckets, pushing a wheelbarrow... Can you imagine how embarrassed he and the PI might be? Shuffling their feet and saying, "Well, I guess this isn't as bad as another man..." and "I thought she smelled funky but I thought it was her shampoo..." and so on.

So the point is--what secrets do your characters have? Do they have stinky barn boots to hide? Where do they hide them? And--most importantly--WHY?